NASA awards $30 million contract to startup for unprecedented satellite rescue mission

NASA has commissioned Katalyst Space Technologies, a startup founded in 2020, to undertake an unprecedented satellite servicing mission to save the Swift observatory from a decaying orbit. In August 2025, NASA approached three companies with an ambitious challenge: build and launch a satellite capable of rescuing a $500 million astronomy mission within less than a year on a limited budget. Katalyst's proposal proved most compelling, and in September 2025, the company received a $30 million contract to develop the mission.

The Swift observatory, launched in November 2004, has been a crucial tool for detecting and locating gamma-ray bursts—the most powerful explosions known in the universe. Despite over two decades in operation, the spacecraft remains vital to the astrophysics community for identifying these cosmic events for follow-up observations by other observatories. However, Swift faces a critical problem: it lacks thrusters to maintain its orbit, leaving it vulnerable to atmospheric drag in low-Earth orbit.

Swift's orbital altitude has steadily declined due to aerodynamic drag. The spacecraft launched into an orbit approximately 363 miles (585 kilometers) above Earth but has since decayed to 225 miles (363 kilometers) as of late June 2026. As the observatory descends into denser atmospheric layers, the decay rate will accelerate, ultimately leading to the spacecraft's burnup during reentry unless intervention occurs.

Katalyst's solution involves the Link servicing spacecraft, which will chase down Swift and use three robotic arms to latch onto it. Once secured, Link will boost Swift's orbit back to a safe operating altitude, allowing the observatory to resume its critical scientific observations. Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director of NASA's astrophysics division, expressed confidence in the approach: "They came back with a response that was technically and programmatically plausible, and then we were like, 'Yeah, let's do it.'" The mission represents a landmark effort in on-orbit satellite servicing, a capability that has never been demonstrated at this scale and speed.